Hi Mary, we have the aero bed that cost $200 and it works fine. If you get the double thick, remember to check how thick it is when you fold it into the sofa. Is there room under the sofa for it or where will you store it?

Hoping to get a 2100 without the slide. Am planning a trip to the factory but wonder if any of you have any ideas about bed in this type of unit? Pretty sure all that's offered is a "Jackknife" sofa. Those of you who use air matresses: Do you inflate them nightly???? I'm considering not bothering with opening the sofa at all just sleeping on it in folded position. The Jackknife looks fairly uncomfortable when opened. Any thoughts? Experience? Advice? Or suggestions on any other items for a potential buyer?

Hoping to get a 2100 without the slide. Am planning a trip to the factory but wonder if any of you have any ideas about bed in this type of unit? Pretty sure all that's offered is a "Jackknife" sofa. Those of you who use air matresses: Do you inflate them nightly???? I'm considering not bothering with opening the sofa at all just sleeping on it in folded position. The Jackknife looks fairly uncomfortable when opened. Any thoughts? Experience? Advice? Or suggestions on any other items for a potential buyer?

Hi "D".From what I can figure, all new 2012 models have a totally new sofa design unlike all previos years. No more air bed. They now use a memory foam split jackknife design. You could leave half the couch as a couch, and setup the other half as a single bed. I wonder if that is a great idea or a really bad idea. With the memory foam and over-all design differences, I hope it is much more comfortable than conventional jacknife sofas. I suppose it best to take a pillow and a couple blankets with you to the factory and tell the them you want to take a cat nap in one of the finished units outside. 15 minutes with one half open, 15 minutes just laying on the normal sofa..... I do wonder if that new memory foam sofa would be installed in a 2100 without a slideout. The factory might be forced to use a 2 piece sofa bed, something special to work in the limited floor space.

« Last Edit: September 25, 2011, 05:09:54 pm by ron.dittmer »

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Ron Dittmer (wife Irene) 2007 Model 2350 Without A SlideoutOur Rig Is Available For Viewing Any Time Of Year In Dundee, ILStored At Home In Our Heated Garage (Well-Lit & Warm Comfort In Winter)

You can open the new sofa half way without the slide. It is similar to a jack knife but I think a little bigger and a whole lot more comfortable. I have one in my new motorhome and the dw slept on it on the way home from the factory. Slide in of course. She said "no problem" to your question.

DJM

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family is a passion...work is a requirement2012 2552 full body paint(Phoenix # 2)

DJM, That sounds interesting, but looking at the first picture the sleeping area seems a bit narrow in both directions.

For reference, here is the new sofa with memory foam. I don't think it is possible to fully open the bed if you do not have a slideout. Maybe they use a 2 sectional instead of a 3 sectional. Then I suppose you would be sleeping forward/rearward instead of side to side. When you do not have a slideout, the furniture along that wall gets a lot bigger. My dinette without slide is quite spread out. I am 5'-10" and I can sleep on it setup as a bed and fully stretch out.

« Last Edit: September 25, 2011, 11:30:34 pm by ron.dittmer »

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Ron Dittmer (wife Irene) 2007 Model 2350 Without A SlideoutOur Rig Is Available For Viewing Any Time Of Year In Dundee, ILStored At Home In Our Heated Garage (Well-Lit & Warm Comfort In Winter)

The electric sofa will fit through the back door... it's tight, but it can be taken out. We found the electric sofa in our 06' 2100 was not comfortable as either sofa or bed.This summer we removed it and I built a folding maple frame that converts from sofa to bed easily. For a matress, we ordered memory foam of the internet and cut into three cushions, and upholstered them with breathable leather-like material,Total cost of the replacement was about 250 dollars, plus a couple days in the workshop.Alan J.

We have a 2006 2400 and find the couch very uncomfortable when unfolded as a bed. It sounded like you had rebuilt the couch to accept memory foam and leather. I want to be sure I make sure I understood that correctly. If I did could you describe what you did with a little more detail and maybe throw in a picture or two. We love our Cruiser but hate the barrel chairs and bed. I welcome any and all comments and/or suggestions for improvements.

I would advise against the air bed. We have one and it is worthless. I have two kids who use it and wish I could have your set up. Our bed popped in the first two weeks. Not to mention it is not comfortable at all. If I could afford to switch the dang thing out I would.

Before we got our 2551 with its heavenly twin beds, my wife always used the eggcrate foam mattress pads on our previous motorhomes. You should have room behind the backrest of your electric fold out bed to roll one up for storage when you're not using the bed.

This is a copy of my previous write-up that hopefully can answer some of the questions. Seeing as we were the ones that got the design of the 2552 started and with the addition of the third Captains Chair while being manufactured, I would like to feed in some info. We had the slideout with the couch and air mattress. After seeing the new design couch with two independent electric adjustable sections, we made an appointment with the factory to remove our couch and install the new system. We were there when Barry/Sue were there picking up their new unit. The two adjustable sections in the new couch are great. They can go all the way down as two single beds or as a large double bed. They can be adjusted to any position for reading or watching TV. Because of the design there is a built-in foot rest. They use memory foam which is very comfortable. Best of all, it does away with the air mattress, but you do lose the storage below the couch. We also use the table with the "spider legs". A question a while back was can the couch be removed without taking it apart. Yes, the couch went right out the coach door and the new one came in the same way. We did not have a slideout in our 2350, but if we had we may not have traded up to the 2552. The livability of the 2552 increases dramatically when you add the slideout. Would not be without it. One of the major drawbacks of having the dinette is its overall design. It is too confining, the seats need to be wider with the backrest built with a slight slope to it. If you like to sit bolt upright all the time, then you may like it. It is uncomfortable to sit with your back against the window, as you might to watch TV. When the slideout is out, yes you can watch the TV and with our new reclining couch, both can see it. We just finished a 7000 mile trip which encompassed the trip to the factory to install the new couch, a trip to Ohio to visit relatives and then on to New Orleans to visit my sister. Then a return trip to home in Idaho, followed with a round trip to San Diego area and return. We had our granddaughter(two year old) with us the whole trip. Her car seat was secured in the third captains chair behind the passenger seat. Our daughter who was also with us sat in the couch area which has two seat belts. To entertain the granddaughter we had the inverter on and played videos on the TV. They were educational videos called "Signing Times". Teaches kids too young to talk, how to ask for what they want by sign language. Very educational and informative. So we gave the 2552 a good ringing out. Had no problems with the coach or truck. We do have a very tight space and need the mirrors folded in flat against the side. Viewing angles are always better if they are lower, but in most cases you would need some type of drop down mechanism to lower them. We found the angle not to be a problem. We did find on the 2350 dinette, only the forward facing seat was useable for the TV. My recommendation is go with the slide. The extra 200 pounds is not a problem with the 450 chassis. Trucks are designed to haul loads and unless you grossly overload them the performance difference with 200 pounds is negligible. Those that consider the weight of the slideout too much are telling me they would hesitate to take another person with them as they would surely weigh on the average of 130 to 200 pounds. I would even consider the third captains chair versus the Euro-chair. The captains chair slides forward and back and reclines and is nice for the person not driving to kick back and relax out of the sun and you can use the passenger seat as a footrest. The captains chair also rotates so it can face the couch. Those looking for replacements for there units, the factory has ones like our old (New) one they could probably sell. Bob

Just an update on the couch thing. I noticed today that my 2010 2350 is on the used inventory. I looked at the pictures and noticed that the factory must have switched that crappy air bed out and put one of the new electric couches in. The must have gone back to Paul's seating and had them make one with the old style material. It's not leather, the covering is the same as I had on the old couch. I wonder if they received feedback about that lousy sofa??? Anyway, if you want to look it is the 2010 2350 brown with the satellite dome and full roof rack.

DJM

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family is a passion...work is a requirement2012 2552 full body paint(Phoenix # 2)

Hey DJM, That is a very nice rig. I have a question about it. I noticed the rear outdoor storage under the bed is reconfigured differently than mine from 2007. I see the furnace exhaust under the bed and the fresh water filler next to that. Is the furnace under the bed? Is the fresh water tank laying front-to-back, behind the storage area's back wall?

I did not realize Phoenix moved the fresh water tank and furnace from my days. My furnace is under the fridge and my water tank is laying left to right over the rear bumper (not ideal for weight distribution when filled up). I suppose the furnace got relocated when the fridge was included in the slideout.

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Ron Dittmer (wife Irene) 2007 Model 2350 Without A SlideoutOur Rig Is Available For Viewing Any Time Of Year In Dundee, ILStored At Home In Our Heated Garage (Well-Lit & Warm Comfort In Winter)